Fertilizing too much? Too little?

[Luizacft]

What dosage of fertilizer do you provide your orchids during the summer? Would you say that 280ppm of nitrogen is too much or too little for a week?

I'm watering my plants very regularly now. And adjusting fertilizer for Cattleyas, Ascocenda, Rhynchostylis and Tolumnia (which i am watering daily) has been hard.

I also have phals (who doesn't?), coelogyne, oncidiums and cattleya seedlings (several).


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Do. Or do not. There is no try.

[Ray]

Personally, I think 280 ppm N is waaaay too much! I think 1/3 to 1/2 that is more appropriate. "Less is more" when it comes to food; continued overdosing will lead to fewer blooms (if it doesn't stop it altogether), weaker plants, and more rots. I used 125 ppm N 2- or 3 times a week for a while, and my plants basically stopped blooming.

I have taken a new view of feeding over the last few years:

1) in nature, the plants get fed only when rains flush detritus, foliar exudates and the like down out of the forest canopy from above.

2) the concentration of that throughfall and the stuff that trickles down branches ("trunk flow"), tends to be in the 15-25 ppm TDS concentration. Most of that is nitrogen.

3) keep in mind that the nutrition is only in the initial rainfall, as the canopy is flushed clean by the downpour almost immediately, so, the total mass of nutrition the plants receive is determined by the frequency of rainfall.

I have copied that in my own culture, feeding (25-35 ppm N) at every watering, so my plants are also getting fed at determined by watering frequency. I flush the daylight out of everything when I water, flooding them heavily, as that saturates and flushes at the same time.

I have been at that for just over four years now using K-Lite, adding KelpMax (1:250) and Inocucor Garden Solution (1:100) about monthly, and I have never seen better growth or blooming in the 45 years I've been growing orchids.

[tropterrarium]

Agree with Ray. Do about 100 ppm once a week. Rest is watering with RO water. And that is with all mounted plants that have a much lower capacity to suffer from nutrient build up in medium.

Ps I don't have a single phal


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[Luizacft]

Thanks Ray and tropterrarium! I'll reduce the fertilization amounts! I also fertilize in every watering, but my ascocenda and coelogyne showed me signs of concern, it seems I'm fertilizing too much! I usually soak them in a pot with water and fertilizer. I'll go back to the weekly fertilization regime with about 100ppm of nitrogen! Thanks for your help!


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Do. Or do not. There is no try.